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Thursday, December 8, 2016

*"Are We Being Set Up For A Crash? * *Stocks Hit A Level Only Seen During The Bubbles Of 1929, 2000 And 2007"* by Michael Snyder "Will the financial bubble that has been rapidly growing ever since Donald Trump won the election suddenly be popped once he takes office? Could it be possible that we are being set up for a horrible financial crash that he will ultimately be blamed for? Yesterday, I shared my thoughts on the incredible euphoria that we have seen since Donald Trump’s surprise victory on November 8th. The U.S. dollar has been surging, companies are announcing that they are...more »

Robert Zubrin makes the case that innovation and innovative people and scientific progress increases resources. Hitler and Malthus made the case that there is only so much to go around and you must fight and kill for it. However, there was 1 billion people at the time of Malthus and they had the equivalent in todays dollars of GDP $180 per person. Malthus made the case that there was finite resources and we had to stop population growth. But now there are 7 billion people with the equivalent of $9000 GDP per person. 7 times the population, 50 times the wealth (7 squared) and 350 t...more »

*(Click on Image to Enlarge)* The aircraft contains a conference and dining room, kitchens, a communications suite - and even an attic running almost the entire length of the plane *Daily Mail*: *Inside the 'Flying White House' which is ready to welcome Trump: How Air Force One is the most secure - and luxurious - plane in the world * * The official presidential plane can carry more than 100 people, with space for 26 crew, and 76 passengers * The aircraft contains a conference and dining room, kitchens, a communications suite - and even an attic * It is packed with classified defen...more »

*CBS*: *Hillary Clinton warns about the dangers of fake news* Hillary Clinton on Thursday warned about the dangers of fake news and said that leaders in both the private and public sectors need to step up to protect democracy. The 2016 Democratic president nominee, former senator and first lady made the comment during a ceremony recognizing retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, on Capitol Hill. “The epidemic of malicious fake news and false propaganda that flooded social media over the past year -- it’s now clear that so-called fake news can have real world conseq...more »

An FBI insider has revealed that the agency are currently conducting a low-key investigation into ‘Pizzagate’ and a potential Washington D.C. pedophile ring. According to the insider, FBI agents are biding their time and waiting until the Trump administration get into power, before making any actual arrests. Voat.co reports: Exact quote: FBI is facing the entire Federal government in this case. Unreal. Here is also what he said. “…pedophilia is primarily in British parliament & Saudi Arabia, and that’s why HRC and BC love foreign donors so much. They get paid in children as well ...more »

Barack Obama has issued a defiant scathing attack on incoming President Donald Trump, ordering military troops to ignore the new Commander-in-chief. During his final address to the armed forces, Obama told troops that once Trump became their boss, soldiers should constantly question Trump’s authority and criticize him. Breitbart.com reports: Obama stood before soldiers at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, Florida on Tuesday, December 6, to talk about “the foundation that we will leave for the next administration,” CNSNews.com reported. Characterizing the military’s mission as a f...more »

Buzz Aldrin has tweeted an ominous warning on Twitter this week, claiming that “we are all in danger. It is evil itself,” accompanied by a picture of a pyramid at the South Pole. The tweet comes days after the U.S. astronaut was mysteriously taken ill in Antarctica and had to be evacuated to safety in nearby New Zealand for emergency medical treatment. Superstation95.com reports: Mr. Aldrin seems to be referring to this object, as seen in an serial photo from Google Earth: The “pyramid is located not far from the United Kingdom’s “Princess Elisabeth Station” at the South Pole, as...more »

Advocates of ObamaCare like to claim that all of the new enrollments in Medicaid in 2014 were due to ObamaCare. So you find claims that ObamaCare provided insurance coverage to 17 million people in 2014. According to a study one of whose authors is Jonathan Gruber, a chief moving force behind ObamaCare, only 19% or 3.3 million of the new Medicaid enrollments were due to ObamaCare. The remaining new enrollments had been eligible for Medicaid prior to the passing of the ObamaCare act. This should be remembered when considering the repeal of ObamaCare. It will be said by some that a...more »

I'm sure you noticed that the stock markets have reacted favorably to the prospect of a Trump presidency. Wednesday the Dow closed at an all-time high. It has rocketed 1200 points since Trump "won." The Dow is getting close to 20,000, something few people thought they would ever live to see. As CNN reported this week, "Wall Street is betting that Trump will be great for business and help accelerate the U.S. economy. Trump has promised to slash taxes, roll back costly regulations and spend big on infrastructure. Trump's less business-friendly promises-- tearing up NAFTA, breaking up...more »

WE HAVE TO FIX IT Posted on December 8, 2016 Mohawk Nation News Please post. MNN. Dec. 8, 2016. All the pipelines have to be stopped. The agents of repression are in our midst at Standing Rock. Apparently Oren Lyons, the Seneca who poses as an Onondaga, has arrived. As the ‘faith keeper’, a Christian religious title invented by the divide and conquer traitors and their puppet

December 10 is International Human Rights Day. The date commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the first global human rights document. Every year on December 10, Amnesty International Canada holds Write For Rights. All over the country, Canadians use our own human rights to support people who don’t have them. We write letters in support of prisoners of conscience, and letters *to* prisoners to let them know they have not been forgotten. It’s a powerful experience, and very easy to do. This year I will be writing letters, and I've invited our ...more »

"Not a comet, bright spiral galaxy Messier 51 is popularly known as the Whirlpool Galaxy. Just off the handle of the Big Dipper in northern skies, you can spot it at the upper left in this image from December 1st. *Click image for larger size.* The pretty 4 by 2.5 degree wide field of view does contain two comets though. Different in appearance, both comets are new visitors to the inner Solar System and are currently faint telescopic objects, highest above northern horizons in morning twilight. At lower left newly discovered comet NEOWISE (C/2016 U1) shows off a round fuzzy coma in t...more »

*"The Power Of The Word"* by Paulo Coelho "Of all the powerful weapons of destruction that man has invented, the most terrible– and the most cowardly– is the word. Knives and firearms leave traces of blood. Bombs shake whole buildings and streets. Poisons can always be detected. But a destructive word can provoke Evil without leaving behind it a single clue. Check to see if you yourself are using this weapon. Children are subject to years of conditioning by their parents, artists are mercilessly pilloried, women are systematically undermined by remarks made by their husbands, the ...more »

Law enforcement efforts to capture refugees crossing the vast wilderness of the US-Mexico borderlands leads to injury, trauma, death, and disappearance. The post ‘Chase And Scatter’ Leaves Refugees For Dead In US-Mexico Borderlands appeared first on Shadowproof.

*"Thank God, It's Doomsday" * by Chet Raymo “OK, folks. Here's what's awaiting you. The End Times. The Apocalypse. The Rapture. The Final Reckoning. Oh, I could pick any one of a thousand representations of the Last Days from centuries of Western art. This one is Luca Signorelli's "The Damned Cast Into Hell," in the Capella Nuova chapel of Orvieto Cathedral, painted around the year 1500 (click to enlarge). Why were these scenes of souls in extremis so common? Exhortations to be good? A reminder of what awaits us if we don't contribute to the Sunday collection? A local bishop trying...more »

*The gang's all here: Hilda Solis, Janice Hahn, their GOP Latino-hating pal Kathryn Barger and Sheila Kuehl * *-by Dorothy ReikPresident, Progressive Democrats of the Santa Monica Mountains* Once Republican Kathryn Barger was elected to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, defeating Democrat Darren Park, she wasted no time in showing her true colors-- not brown or black or even purple-- her color is TRUMP RED. It was a busy first day in the Chamber with Barger going along with the rest of the Supervisors on many good motions but then the rubber met the road. On protection for im...more »

*Populism, identity politics (left and right), and radical Islam --- they share both the prize of being the three most pressing threats to liberty today, argues Tom Palmer in this guest post, and many common intellectual fountainheads.* A spectre is haunting the world: the spectre of radical anti-liberty movements, each grappling with the others like scorpions in a bottle and all competing to see which can dismantle the institutions of liberty the fastest. Some are ensconced in the universities and other elite centres, and some draw their strength from populist anger. The left...more »

Spacex is finalizing the investigation into our September 1 anomaly and are working to complete the final steps necessary to safely and reliably return to flight, now in early January with the launch of Iridium-1. This allows for additional time to close-out vehicle preparations and complete extended testing to help ensure the highest possible level of mission assurance prior to launch. “This allows for additional time to close-out vehicle preparations and complete extended testing to help ensure the highest possible level of mission assurance prior to launch,” wrote the company in ...more »

The Carnival of Nuclear Energy 337 is up at Neutron Bytes MZ consulting - A new study by UNSCEAR shows that there is more radiation coming from coal plants than nuclear plants – and that workers mining the rare earths required for solar and wind are subject to higher doses than nuclear workers. Report of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (24 pages) They calculated the collective doses to defined population groups resulting from one year’s global and regional electricity generation by each energy technology, integrated over specific time peri...more »

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump waves after arriving at John Glenn Columbus International Airport in Columbus, Ohio, U.S., December 8, 2016. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton *Reuters*: *Trump gets one presidential intelligence briefing a week: sources* President-elect Donald Trump is receiving an average of one presidential intelligence briefing a week, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter, far fewer than most of his recent predecessors. Although they are not required to, presidents-elect have in the past generally welcomed the opportunity to receive the President's Dai...more »

*Samer N Abboud, Al Jazeera*: *Syria's war: What went wrong in east Aleppo?* When the Russian intervention into the Syrian conflict accelerated in mid-2016, many analysts and partisans declared the "Battle of Aleppo" to hold the key to the future of the Syrian conflict. Decisive victory one way or another, or the re-establishment of a military stalemate, would dramatically affect the course of the conflict and the possibilities of a political solution, no matter how flawed or unjust. As 2016 draws to a close, the Russian-led intervention into Aleppo has led to virtually the entire...more »

*Al Jazeera*:* Aleppo: No deal reached between US and Russia* *US State Department confirms Kerry and Lavrov met but no agreement on ceasefire or civilian evacuation was reached.* Russia and the United States will continue talks on Aleppo and evacuation of civilians after the US secretary of state and his Russian counterpart discussed the situation in the war-torn Syrian city. Aleppo has been divided between government-controlled neighbourhoods in the city's west and rebel-held areas in the east since 2012. *Read more* .... *MIDDLE EAST* Russia says Aleppo combat suspended, *re...more »

*Reuters*: *Iraqi troops pull out from Mosul hospital after fierce battle* Iraqi troops who briefly seized a Mosul hospital believed to be used as an Islamic State base were forced to withdraw from the site, but managed to establish a base for army tanks nearby after days of fierce back-and-forth fighting, residents said. The rapid advance into the Wahda neighborhood where the hospital is located marked a change of tactic after a month of fighting in east Mosul in which the army has sought to capture and clear neighborhoods block by block. The ferocity of the fighting reflects the...more »

*“In Memoriam”* "Oh yet we trust that somehow good Will be the final goal of ill, To pangs of nature, sins of will, Defects of doubt, and taints of blood; That nothing walks with aimless feet; That not one life shall be destroy’d, Or cast as rubbish to the void, When God hath made the pile complete; That not a worm is cloven in vain; That not a moth with vain desire Is shrivell’d in a fruitless fire, Or but subserves another’s gain. Behold, we know not anything; I can but trust that good shall fall At last–far off–at last, to all, And every winter change to spring. So runs my dream: but ...more »

[image: bank]As part of the Deutsche Bank silver rigging settlement, the bank has provided "smoking gun" evidence and transcripts which show traders coordinating trades in advance of a daily phone call, manipulating the spot market for silver, conspiring to fix the spread on silver offered to customers and using illegal strategies to rig prices.

Anyone with a cursory knowledge of American history knows the US intelligence services are not above targeting their own citizens for disinformation campaigns. The post PropOrNot Not Only Smears Journalists, But Adds Fuel To Next Cold War appeared first on Shadowproof.

*Washington Post*:* Syria suspends fire in Aleppo to allow evacuation, Russia says* PARIS — Russia said late Thursday that the Syrian military has suspended its combat operations in eastern Aleppo to allow civilians to leave the city and that it had reached agreement with the United States to negotiate the safe departure of rebel fighters. A senior U.S. State Department official here traveling with Secretary of State John F. Kerry said they could not yet confirm either of those assertions but that Kerry was in continuing contact with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. There...more »

"I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready, you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!" - Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel "He who knows no hardships will know no hardihood. He who faces no calamity will need no courage. Mysterious though it is, the characteristics in human nature which we love best grow in a soil with a strong mixture of troubles." - Harry Emerson Fosdick

As a liberal, I'm supposed to believe that Reince Priebus is a hapless doofus, but he backed the winning (or "winning") horse in the 2016 election, he wangled a job in the White House, and now, according to *New York* magazine's Gabriel Sherman, he seems to be taking over the joint: Sources point to Trump’s early appointments of hard-liners Jeff Sessions for attorney general and Mike Flynn for national security adviser as evidence of [Steve] Bannon’s influence. But Priebus has flexed his muscle in more recent appointments such as Betsy DeVos for education secretary and RNC donors Wi...more »

Dandelion Salad by Keith Rosenthal socialistworker.org December 8, 2016 Why do the Democratic and Republican Parties seem to take turns as the dominant force in mainstream U.S. politics? THE DEMOCRATS and Republicans are not identical evils. But they are complementary evils. These two timeworn political institutions form distinct but dialectically interconnected parts of an oppressive […]

*“US Students Getting Worse at Math as Science and Reading Skills Stagnate”* by DCG “The problem isn’t that Johnny can’t read. The problem isn’t even that Johnny can’t think. The problem is that Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling.” - Thomas Sowell “This is what happens when school administrators are concerned that everyone receives a participation trophy and coddle special snowflakes. Maybe they should focus more on real education instead of worrying about which bathrooms transgenders should use. From Daily Mail: "Americans students are having major ...more »

*"Hard Learned Lessons: Bad Days"* by Madisyn Taylor, The DailyOM "We all have bad days and within these days is usually a gem of a gift waiting to be opened. We all have days from time to time when it feels like the world is against us or that the chaos we are experiencing will never end. One negative circumstance seems to lead to another. You may wonder, on a bad day, whether anything in your life will ever go right again. But a bad day, like any other day, can be a gift. Having a bad day can show you that it is time to slow down, change course, or lighten up. A bad day can help...more »

Handout *Daily Beast:* *A Rising Star in the Russian Military Killed in Syria* *Col. Galitsky was set for a major promotion, but got a little too close to the action in the slaughterhouse that is Aleppo.* A high-ranking Russian officer, Col. Ruslan Galitsky, who was accused of commanding pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, has been killed in Aleppo, Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin personally confirmed the colonel’s death. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that Galitsky had been killed, and Putin subsequently said that Galitsky had suffered fata...more »

US ships and planes could use aircraft carriers or its bases in Guam and Okinawa to patrol the heavily contested South China Sea, suggests Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin LorenzanaDiana Quinlan/U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters *IBTimes:* *Philippines says it is 'unlikely' to help US patrols in disputed South China Sea* Filipino Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana says the US could use aircraft carriers or its bases in Guam. The Philippines has said it is unlikely to help the US to conduct freedom of navigation patrols in the disputed South China Sea, a military action seen as a w...more »

The head of Britain’s MI6 spy agency has accused Russia of being the main contributor to an “unprecedented” terrorism threat that he says the UK is currently facing. In his first public speech since taking office in 2014, Secret Intelligence Service boss Alex Younger said that Moscow’s military efforts against ISIS terrorists in Syria were threatening the security of Britain. Speaking to journalists at the MI6 headquarters in London’s Vauxhall, he attacked Russia for backing Assad’s “discredited” Syrian regime, warning that defining opponents as terrorists alienated people who mus...more »

Robert Michel (R-IL) was in Congress for 38 years, starting when I was a pre-teen. And he was After serving as Minority Whip for half a dozen years, he became Minority Leader in 1981 and was finally ousted in 1995, completely changing the fortunes of the utterly pathetic House Republicans. Before Congress, Michel had served as an infantryman during World War II, earning two Bronze Stars, a Purple Heart and 4 battle stars. But getting rid of Michel, a decent, old school Peoria gentleman, breathed new life into the GOP. For the entire 38 years he served in Congress-- employing the s...more »

by Sean Fenley Dandelion Salad The Anything and Everything Jan. 11, 2010 Most the so-called ‘alternative media’ are just outlets for ‘acceptable’ opinion, and ‘acceptable’ discourse of the state and corporate sponsored left (I believe the same occurs on the right as well). Anything outside the lines is nothing other than sheer blasphemy. Blasphemy against […]

by Sean Fenley Dandelion Salad The Anything and Everything Jan. 20, 2010 Aside from the racism that the people of European descent and white majority countries have exhibited towards Haiti, Haiti, has not been allowed to prosper, because a country like Haiti (extremely poor, that has ‘never really had it together’) cannot be seen (by […]

by Sean Fenley Dandelion Salad The Anything and Everything Jan. 24, 2010 In comes Mr. Brown, this year’s version of Mitt Romney to save the day for the corporatist forces of evil and mayhem! Not that single-payer or the original public option, for that matter were ever seriously considered. The conciliator in chief is already […]

By Timothy V. Gatto Featured Writer Dandelion Salad liberalpro.blogspot.com February 8, 2010 As his presidency was drawing to a close, Dwight David Eisenhower gave the people of the United States a clear and unmistakable warning. He clearly spelled out the dangers involved in maintaining a defense industry that is constantly researching new weapons and a […]

by Sean Fenley Dandelion Salad The Anything and Everything February 3, 2010 Today in a stunning 5-4 decision, the forces of truth, justice, democracy, and the American way were rolled back by Tony “The Fixer” Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel “Unitary Executive” Alito, Anthony Kennedy and Chief ‘Justice’ John Roberts. They said that it was consequential […]

by Sean Fenley Dandelion Salad The Anything and Everything February 18, 2010 [tweetmeme source= “DandelionSalads” only_single=false] As the American political center spirals farther and farther down the road toward barbarism, it truly becomes a greater and greater privilege and an honor, seemingly by the day, to be condescended to as just one of the nonsensical […]

by Sean Fenley Dandelion Salad The Anything and Everything March 2, 2010 [tweetmeme source= “DandelionSalads” only_single=false] Where’s Martin Heidegger when you need him? Well, of course, he’s six feet under, and I certainly don’t want to wish undo harm upon anyone; but it seems with each passing day, that it would really be a boon […]

by Sean Fenley Dandelion Salad The Anything and Everything March 11, 2010 Perhaps Eric Massa’s been discredited at this point, but I did think that he was right in his assessment that Rahm Emanuel would essentially tie Massa’s children to railroad tracks in order to whip up a vote in Rahm’s favor. Moulitsas and Emanuel, […]

[tweetmeme source= “DandelionSalads” only_single=false] “I don’t think people have any right to be disillusioned about Obama, there was no basis for the illusion in the first place.” — Noam Chomsky by Sean Fenley Dandelion Salad The Anything and Everything March 14, 2010 Now that the wheels have fallen over Madison Avenue’s hope and change wagon, […]

by Sean Fenley Dandelion Salad The Anything and Everything March 23, 2010 [tweetmeme source= “DandelionSalads” only_single=false] “You can play a great game and still not win.” -Barack H. Obama After observing recent pronouncements from Hillary Clinton that Venezuela start ‘playing by the rules’ and revert to free market capitalism, it’s starting to look like we […]

by Sean Fenley Dandelion Salad The Anything and Everything March 26, 2010 [tweetmeme source= “DandelionSalads” only_single=false] Thank God for Republican policy advisers, one of which has noticed that in roughly ten years, single payer will be the only option — they won’t be able to 86 the ‘public option’ then. But until that blessed moment, […]

by Andrew Ravert Dandelion Salad Fthecorporateduopoly’s Blog June 28, 2010 (revised) Last week Defense Minister Ehud Barak urged the UN to shelve a push for an independent investigation into the deadly flotilla raid which claimed the lives of 9 people, one of which was shot twice in the legs, once in the back, once in […]

by Sean Fenley Dandelion Salad The Anything and Everything April 4, 2010 [tweetmeme source= “DandelionSalads” only_single=false] Obama showed up in Afghanistan recently — Bush esque — in a flight jacket, to reassure the troops that the foreign quagmire that they’re involved in isn’t all for naught. It seems that this country has not only ‘gotten […]

[tweetmeme source= “DandelionSalads” only_single=false] by Sean Fenley Dandelion Salad The Anything and Everything April 9, 2010 I’m not sad to say that I’m cheering for the success of the Tea Party. Surely if they are to ’succeed’ they will take votes away from Republicans, but more than that they will open up a stale process […]

by Sean Fenley Dandelion Salad The Anything and Everything April 25, 2010 by Helen Cox, used with permission Call it the Dove Party, the Isolationist Party, the Republic not Empire Party, the Revitalize America Party what have you, but the Tea Partiers haven’t put together anything close to some of the anti-Iraq War efforts during […]

[tweetmeme source= “DandelionSalads” only_single=false] by Sean Fenley Featured Writer Dandelion Salad The Anything and Everything April 28, 2010 If one listens to the corporate media and/or ‘political mainstream’ — which one should never of course do — one might find that s/he is an extremist. If one is for peace, like Jesus of Nazareth; s/he […]

by Philip A. Farruggio Featured Writer Dandelion Salad 25 July, 2010 What we all were taught since grade school is ‘ Voting is the most important civic duty we have ‘ . Sadly, nothing was instilled in us about our rights of free speech, assembly and dissent. Ben Franklin himself stated ‘ Dissent is the […]

by Sibel Edmonds Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Originally published by Boiling Frogs Post February 10, 2011 It was a rainy April day in 2004, and I was in the office of one of my professors at the university’s Public Policy Graduate Department. I was having one of those defeated and disillusioned moments that kept recurring […]

by Cindy Sheehan Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox crossposted from Al Jazeera October 31, 2010 “The two-party system has given this country the war of Lyndon Johnson, the Watergate of Nixon and the incompetence of Carter. Saying we should keep the two-party system simply because it is working is like […]

by Philip A. Farruggio Featured Writer Dandelion Salad March 15, 2011 Here in Florida, they held ‘Awake the State ‘rallies, in essence co-sponsored by the Democratic Party. In Daytona Beach, a usually very apathetic area, various unions and union supporters came out by the hundreds to stand in solidarity with the teachers. It seems that our […]

By Timothy V. Gatto Featured Writer Dandelion Salad liberalpro.blogspot.com Nov. 16, 2011 Today was the day that the powers that are fought back. As Gandhi told us in the last century; “First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. Then they fight you. Then you win.” We are now fast approaching the end stage. It […]

Dandelion Salad by Ralph Nader The Nader Page January 3, 2012 Ezra Klein, the bright, young, economic policy columnist for the “Washington Post” believes that Obama came out ahead last year in the “administration’s bitter, high-stakes negotiations with the Republicans in Congress.” He cites four major negotiations in 2011 with the Republicans that Obama won. […]

Dandelion Salad http://billmoyers.com June 15, 2012 On this week’s Moyers & Company, Bill talks with historian Thomas Frank, author of the bestseller What’s the Matter With Kansas?, about the power of concentrated money to subvert democracy. How does a society built on democratic ideals allow them to become so corrupted? Frank’s most recent book is […]

Dandelion Salad by Ralph Nader The Nader Page June 14, 2012 Mitt Romney’s daily dittohead assertions make one wonder what he got out of the law and business degrees he received from Harvard University. One of his regular blasts blames Barack Obama for the daily reports of bad economic indicators. Unemployment increases – blame Obama. […]

Dandelion Salad With Ralph Nader Jun 15, 2012 by democracynow DemocracyNow.org -In 2008, Barack Obama pledged to raise the minimum wage every year once elected, but the hourly rate of $7.25 hasn’t increased since 2007. Low-wage workers now make far less than they did four decades ago. Last week Illinois Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. […]

by Cindy Sheehan Featured Writer Dandelion Salad Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox August 5, 2012 Just found out today (August 4, 2012) that Roseanne Barr and I were given the confidence and nomination of the Peace and Freedom Party of California at the nominating convention. Even though Roseanne is Roseanne and I have […]

Dandelion Salad Updated: Sept. 9, 2012 added a video interview http://billmoyers.com/ Sept. 7, 2012 The conventions are over — now it’s time for some thinking outside the box. So Bill welcomes to his studio Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who’s been an independent in Congress for 21 years — longer than anyone in American history. Sanders […]

Dandelion Salad Interview with Lance Selfa SocialistWorker.org Sept. 5, 2012 Everyone–the media commentators, leaders of the two parties, liberal supporters of the Democrats and conservative supporters of the Republicans–are saying that the 2012 presidential election offers a clear choice between two fundamentally different political visions. So why doesn’t it seem that way most of the […]

by Thomas Baldwin Guest Writer Dandelion Salad PROGRESSIVE ACTIVISTS VOICE October 26, 2012 Our Corporatist Two Party System is Rushing Us Toward Totalitarianism In the current election cycle of 2012, we have an excellent example of how both of the dominant political parties, Democrat and Republican, continue to propagate the lies and misinformation that allow […]

with Chris Hedges Featured Writer Dandelion Salad October 26, 2012 Oct 19, 2012 by CUTV CUTV met with journalist Chris Hedges on the occasion of the publication of La Mort de l’Élite Progressiste, French translation of The Death of the Liberal Class, by Lux Éditeur. We asked him about the Occupy movement and what should […]

Updated: Oct. 20, 2014 by Jill Dalton Writer, Dandelion Salad recoveringarmybrat October 30, 2012 I remember sitting in the large impersonal lecture hall in my American History 101 class feeling a bit forlorn and overwhelmed. I’m a freshman at the University of South Carolina. It’s 1968, the Vietnam War is raging, Robert Kennedy and Martin […]

by Thomas Baldwin Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad proactvoice.wordpress.com July 5, 2013 “In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” – George Orwell “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”— Martin Luther King, Jr. “It is better to lead from behind and to […]

Dandelion Salad by Ralph Nader The Nader Page September 19, 2013 Sitting in the office of the AFL-CIO president, Richard Trumka, one sees books on labor history, economics, corporate crimes and proposals for change piled up everywhere. Perhaps that helps explain why Mr. Trumka, a former coal miner who became a lawyer, presented his besieged […]

Dandelion Salad with Ralph Nader TheRealNews on Dec 18, 2013 On Reality Asserts Itself with Paul Jay, Ralph Nader says McCarthy’s reign of terror made people seek more empirical change, we went after auto companies – no “ism” there. Transcript see The Wild and Cruel Gap Between Debtors and Creditors by Ralph Nader Why Americans Must […]

Dandelion Salad with Ralph Nader TheRealNews on Dec 19, 2013 On RAI with Paul Jay, Ralph Nader says the reforms of the 1960’s and 70’s are no longer possible as Congress is bought and sold by a small number of very rich people and commercial interests. Transcript see Ralph Nader: McCarthyism Made Us Veer Away […]

Dandelion Salad Replaced video Jan. 12, 2014 RT America on Dec 31, 2013 People have tried (with varying success) to predict the future, from soothsayers to reading tea leaves, from Nostradamus to calling Miss Cleo. But one man, Gerald Celente, has made a career out of forecasting trends as the founder of the Trends Research […]

by Finian Cunningham Writer, Dandelion Salad East Africa Crossposted from PressTV April 1, 2014 A first step for world peace is for the American people to rein in their reckless government from the international stage and to stop it making misery for so many. Americans need democratic government like the rest of the world needs […]

Dandelion Salad with Chris Hedges paul jay on Jul 15, 2014 Chris Hedges interviews Lawrence Lessig about his plans to break the hold of big money over American elections * Transcript *** Hedges and Lessig on Money and Politics, Part 2 TheRealNews on Jul 15, 2014 Chris Hedges and Lawrence Lessig continue their discussion about how to […]

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/ by Ralph Nader The Nader Page July 23, 2010 Last month, Big Business interests shamelessly dealt our already depleted democracy a devastating blow by misleading California voters into approving Proposition 14, without their opponents being able to reach the people with rebuttals. This voter initiative provides that the November elections in that state for […]

Dandelion Salad Jun 11, 2012 by abetterworldtvshow This evening’s show will be an Enlightened, Evolutionary Politics Roundtable, dedicated to ideas about transforming the current political zeitgeist in the U.S. To help bring forth first an understanding of what it’s really like to serve in Congress, then enlightening ideas about its transformation, is Representative Dennis Kucinich, […]

by Thomas Baldwin Guest Writer Dandelion Salad PROGRESSIVE ACTIVISTS VOICE October 18, 2012 It Will Totally Destroy our Democratic Republic Definitions: Corporatism (or Corporate Fascism)—A term often first attributed to Benito Mussolini of Italy in the early 1900’s defining the complete merger of the corporations with the nation state. Also, often referred to as just […]

Updated/revised version: Why Americans Must Demolish the Political Duopoly and Create a New Progressive Alliance by Thomas Baldwin by Thomas Baldwin Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad proactvoice Biloxi, MS Dec. 15, 2013 A Call to Action! “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”– Albert Einstein Duopoly: “preponderant influence or control […]

Dandelion Salad by Ralph Nader The Nader Page February 24, 2014 The tightening two-party duopoly has been moving relentlessly in the direction of common funding of candidates by the same privileged interests. The exclusion of independent or third party competitors through costly ballot access hurdles (see: opendebates.org for more information), litigious harassment, and barring them […]

John Glenn was an American aviator, engineer, astronaut, and United States Senator from Ohio. He was one of the "Mercury Seven" group of military test pilots selected in 1959 by NASA to become America's first astronauts and fly the Project Mercury spacecraft. On February 20, 1962, Glenn flew the Friendship 7 mission and became the first American to orbit the Earth and the fifth person in space, after cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov and the sub-orbital flights of Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom. Read more »

*Reuters: **Exclusive: Risking Beijing's ire, Vietnam begins dredging on South China Sea reef* Vietnam has begun dredging work on a disputed reef in the South China Sea, satellite imagery shows, the latest move by the Communist state to bolster its claims in the strategic waterway. Activity visible on Ladd Reef in the Spratly Islands could anger Hanoi's main South China Sea rival, Beijing, which claims sovereignty over the group and most of the resource-rich sea. Ladd Reef, on the south-western fringe of the Spratlys, is completely submerged at high tide but has a lighthouse and ...more »

*Washington Post:* *John Glenn, first American to orbit the Earth, dies at 95* John Glenn, who captured the nation’s attention in 1962 as the first American to orbit the Earth during a tense time when the United States sought supremacy over the Soviet Union in the space race, and who rocketed back into space 36 years later, becoming the oldest astronaut in history, died Dec. 8 at a hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Glenn, who in his post-NASA career served four terms as a U.S. senator from Ohio, was 95. The death was confirmed by Hank Wilson, communications director at the John Gle...more »

In case you have any lingering doubts that *Idiocracy *has come true, consider the corporate clowns, psychopaths and other 5th Columnists who are about to infiltrate the highest levels of government. The newest announcement is that Trump tapped some guy named Andrew Puzder (God, what an awful-sounding name), a fast food executive who's been an advocate for deregulation and just as vicious an opponent for a minimum wage increase, to be Labor Secretary. And what fast food joint does this putz hail from? You guessed it. Carl's Jr. Talk about life imitating art.

*"Magnitude 8.0 Earthquake Off Solomon Islands Near Australia-* * Tsunami Buoys Alerting!"* by Newsroom "A very strong magnitude 8.0 earthquake has just struck in the Pacific Ocean off the Solomon Islands near Australia. Tsunami Buoys in the ocean are now in "Event Mode" indicating a possible Tsunami. An Evacuation Order has been given for the coastlines of the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu- the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says the first Tsunami waves will begin striking by 1:05 pm eastern US time. Analysis underway to see if the Solomon Islands Tsunami will hit...more »

Hundreds of British police officers have been accused of abusing their power to sexually abuse vulnerable victims of crime a watchdog report has revealed The latest in a string of institutional abuse accusations was revealed by the royal Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) in a damning study on Thursday. Home Secretary Amber Rudd said she was shocked by how deep the issue was rooted within the British law enforcement. The Independent reports: HMIC’s initial findings identified more than 400 claims of abuse of authority for sexual gain over two years. But HM Inspector Mike Cunningh...more »

By Paul Homewood h/t Joe Public https://youtu.be/-90g8SrOtgQ It will come as no great surprise to learn that wind turbines in cold climes have an unfortunate habit of icing up in winter! As a consequence there is growing demand for helicopters to de-ice them, as the above video shows. One company […]

It’s that time of year again Many thanks to those who have donated in the past year, but as Big Oil have forgotten to send their cheque again, I am forced to pass the hat around again. To pay by PayPal, simply click on the DONATE link below. Thank you Paul DONATE

The staffs at the *New York Times *and the *Washington Post* (along with most other irrelevant newspapers in the land) which provide a never-ending flow of misinformation; The news channels that never report the news - but they really love trying to 'make news'; and the prog blog types and places like the *Huffington Post,* *are all unhappy*. - American voters rejected their shameful partisanship for the repellant and corrupt Hillary Clinton. - American voters rejected their admiration for Jeb!, who they still think would have made a wonderful president if choice #1 hadn'...more »

*"Who Will Stop the Deep State’s Confiscation of Your Money?"* by Bill Bonner *"When Cash Is Outlawed…Only Outlaws Will Have Cash: *Harvard economist Larry Summers is a reliable source of claptrap. And a frequent spokesman for the Deep State. To bring new readers up to speed, voters don’t get a say in who runs the country. Instead, a ‘shadow government’ of elites, cronies, lobbyists, bureaucrats, politicians, and zombies- aka the Deep State- is permanently in power. Put simply, it doesn’t matter which party is in power; the Deep State rules. Want to know what the Deep State is up t...more »

I have been pouring over all of the reports from the alternative news sites (I have long given up on the liars in the Jew spew media...) about the ongoing situation in the war to free Syria from the US/Israel/NATO criminal cabal... And the news is positive in regards to the situation in Aleppo, but now has become a bit disturbing in the outskirts of Palmyra.... Many reports have come out today claiming that the city of Aleppo has now been liberated... I have already warned several authors of these reports at their sites "not so fast..." as the US criminal murderous operatives and me...more »

An Iraqi soldier holds an Islamist State flag, after pulling it down during a military operation against Islamic State militants in Al-Qasar, southeast of Mosul, Iraq, November 29, 2016. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani *Reuters:* *U.S. estimates 50,000 Islamic State fighters killed so far: U.S. official* The U.S. military believes that some 50,000 Islamic State fighters have been killed since the United States started battling the group more than two years ago, a senior U.S. military official said on Thursday, calling it a "conservative estimate." The official, who spoke to Pentagon repor...more »

Canadian border guards at the Douglas border crossing on the Canada-U.S. border in Surrey, B.C.. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press *Globe and Mail:* *Trump’s torture view may change secrets sharing with Canada: spy watchdog executive* The civil servant in charge of the government’s spy-watchdog agency says Canada may have to reconsider how it shares intelligence with the United States if president-elect Donald Trump makes good on his promise to torture terrorists to gather intelligence. The federal official also remarked that had former U.S. intelligence analyst Edward Snowden worked...more »

Syrian government soldiers gather in Al-Haidariya neighbourhood after government forces took control of the area in Aleppo, Syria December 2, 2016. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki *Reuters*: *Syrian army's Aleppo advance slows but victory in sight* The Syrian army's advance in Aleppo slowed on Thursday but a victory was still firmly in sight after President Bashar al-Assad vowed that retaking the nation's second city would change the course of the six-year civil war in his favor. Lightning gains in recent days in which government forces and their allies recaptured Aleppo's historic Old City...more »

I've been thinking about writing this post since election night. What's going to become of political bloggers, especially the progressive ones, now that we have another right wing Fifth Columnist in the White House? Enough time has gone by since the end of the Bush junta so we can look at the lengthening history of political blogging and appraise it with some accurate hindsight. And it can be persuasively argued, as it was during those dark years of tightly controlled anarchy that was the Bush administration, that W essentially midwifed the liberal blogger movement an...more »

*“Health Care Hither and Yon:* * An Invitation to Scream about Socialism”* by Fred Reed "Almost all advanced countries, if not all, have national medical care. It is telling that in the debate over Obamacare, few looked at systems in other countries to see how well what worked. The reason seems to have been a mixture of the classic American arrogance and lack of interest in anything beyond the borders. Characteristically, discussion usually turned on the evils of socialism– for some reason, Europe is thought to be socialist– and who was going to make money. The results are what on...more »

*The Hill,* in a desperate search for right-wing eyeballs, posts this fact-challenged headline: *With Trump, conservatives hope for ally in 'War on Christmas'* Memo to *The Hill*: THERE IS NO WAR ON CHRISTMAS. Christmas is thriving in America. Christmas starts thriving every year in America well before Thanksgiving. There was never a war, or if there ever was, Christmas won. Bigly. But to Trump, we have always been at war with EastPC: Conservatives are hoping that Donald Trump will be a strong ally in the “War on Christmas.” The president-elect, who repeatedly promised his support...more »

*THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2016McCaffrey changes his mind:* We were watching, and we were surprised, when General Barry McCaffrey vouched for General Michael Flynn a few weeks ago. We thought it was already clear that something was wrong with Flynn. Watching cable, we saw McCaffrey vouch for Flynn in very strong terms. McCaffrey seems to have changed his mind. Matt Shuman reports at TPM: SHUMAN (12/8/16): Retired Army Gen. Barry *McCaffrey has changed his opinion on the incoming national security adviser, retired Army Gen. Michael Flynn, after reading his tweets.* In an interview on ...more »

By Paul Homewood h/t Joe Public https://youtu.be/-90g8SrOtgQ It will come as no great surprise to learn that wind turbines in cold climes have an unfortunate habit of icing up in winter! As a consequence there is growing demand for helicopters to de-ice them, as the above video shows. One company […]

*Victorious President* *Dr. Bashar al Assad of Syria* *Every once in a while, humanity has to stop fighting the perps and pat itself on the back. We have WON the war in Syria.* According to the REAL news in the alternative media (and that is a victory in and of itself...that we h*ave* a REAL media to tell us such glad tidings) Aleppo has been liberated. The Israeli Ziofascist Wet Dream is dead! The following report is printed from the blog There Are No Sunglasses. I will have my thoughts and comments to follow: *Aleppo Has Been Liberated!—Mask of Zion* Mark It In The History ...more »

The Pentagon, headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, taken from an airplane in January 2008. Wikipedia *Washington Post editorial:* *The Pentagon can’t afford to sweep spending under the rug* WHEN IT comes to bigness, the U.S. military has few rivals. The Defense Department is the nation’s largest employer, with more than 1.3 million men and women on active duty. The Pentagon has three times the floor space of the Empire State Building . The department’s back-office business operations employ more than 1 million people. The $580 billion U.S. military budget takes...more »

*THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2016A very peculiar newspaper:* The New York Times is a very peculiar newspaper. A few quick examples: Yesterday's front-page report about Donald J. Trump struck us as very odd. The report began with Donald J. Trump's peculiar attack against Boeing. By now, it seems fairly clear that Trump's fact-challenged, jumbled tweet was a flash response to criticism from Boeing's CEO. But if you read the part of the Times report which appeared on the paper's front page, you received no such impression. Instead, Trump was profiled semi-heroically, By paragraph 3, his t...more »

We're drowning in "fake news" stories about ("fake news" but also about) dark matter. Erik Verlinde has surely unified dark matter and dark energy in his own version of my holographic MOND. A would-be NASA rocket scientist suggests that his reactionless EM drive might give us flying cars that may also go to other galaxies. Some of his fans suggest that this invention of the millennium (which can exert a piconewton because a piconewton is the error of their measurement) is driven by dark matter. Well, while all the journalists are obsessed with assorted cranks and speculative physici...more »

------------------------------ Dear viewers, Much has been made through this election cycle about "fake news." Just last week, the Washington Post reported that much of this fake news "got support from a sophisticated Russian propaganda campaign.” The Post promoted a report by a shadowy group called PropOrNot, which accused hundreds of sites of publishing pro-Russia propaganda - some of which are sites that The Real News believes to be verifiable, independent journalism. What the Post failed to mention is that corporate news is the biggest fake news of all. Between the failure to ...more »

*U.S. industrial policy, as practiced (click to enlarge; source)* *by Gaius Publius* *I was of two minds, Like a treeIn which there are two blackbirds.* (with apologies to Wallace Stevens) Much of the debate around U.S. trade policy — or "trade" policy, since so much of it really concerns capital flow and "investor rights" than it does actual trade — is really an attempt to define and direct U.S. *industrial* policy. Here's one definition of "industrial policy": The *industrial policy* of a country, sometimes denoted IP, is its official strategic effort to encourage the deve...more »

*Politico*: *Trump says he's consulted Obama on Cabinet picks* President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is taking advice on his political appointees from the man he spent months railing against on the campaign trail: President Barack Obama. Trump said on NBC’s “Today” that he has sought the president’s advice on the candidates for various appointment-level positions and, in at least one case so far, has acted on that advice. “I have asked him what he would think of this one and that one,” Trump said. “I would say that, yes, I take his recommendations very seriously, an...more »

I've more to say on the subject of the Turkish/Syrian situation.. For now a bit of a comment from Rescue & a linked below news article. With more to follow in another posting when time allows. This change,* spoken openly about*, is certain to have gained the ire of the US/UK/Israel Middle East/North Africa remakers. I've written here about the changes taking place that seemed apparent to me and should have been apparent to many others, particularly in the alt media camp. Those who chose to instead engage in 'cult of personality' distraction. RescueDecember 7, 2016 at 2:55 PM I thi...more »

*“Wall Street's Calling the Sheep to the Slaughter-* * Again!”, Introduction* by Brian Maher “Mischief, thou art afoot... John Hussman honchos the Hussman family of funds. He soothsaid the 2008–09 collapse in advance, way ahead of the crowd. And now, heading into 2017, he sees ill omens ahead... Market consensus- a seductive yet treacherous siren- says Trump’s big spending will keep stocks in what David Stockman calls the “nosebleed section.” Hussman dissents. The post-election stock rally rests upon stilts, and the stilts upon sand. Stocks are overvalued, says he. Another portent: ...more »

UNU is a new form of artificial intelligence that combines real-time human input with advanced algorithms to create the world’s first hive mind. Based on the 75 randomly selected individuals connected online by real-time Swarm intelligence algorithms, Donald Trump was selected as most likely to win TIME's Person of the Year. The post Swarm Intelligence Accurately Predicted Trump as TIME’s Person of the Year appeared first on Futurism.

All I can hope is that this is just some crazy idea being fielded that will quickly fall to the wayside: Valerie Volcovici (December 5, 2016). Trump advisors aim to privatize oil-rich Indian reservations. Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-tribes-insight-idUSKBN13U1B1 Native American reservations cover just 2 percent of the United States, but they may contain about a fifth of the nation’s oil and gas, along with vast coal reserves. Now, a group of advisors to President-elect Donald Trump on Native American issues wants to free those resources from what they call ...more »

TEPCO reported that cooling to unit 3 was interrupted on December 5: Associated Press. December 5, 2016. Fukushima reactor briefly loses cooling during inspection. The Asahi Shimbun, http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201612050069.html One of the melted reactors at tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant had a temporary loss of cooling when a worker accidentally bumped a switch while passing through a narrow aisle of switch panels during an inspection and turned off the pumping system. The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., said cooling for the No. 3 reactor, one of the...more »

*David Corn, Mother Jones:* *Does Donald Trump Believe Nuclear War Is Inevitable?* The man about to take control of US nukes has a very fatalistic view. In just seven weeks, a man known for being ill-tempered, thin-skinned, narcissistic, and erratic will take control of the US nuclear arsenal. Donald Trump will have the authority and power to launch any combination of the country's 4,500 nuclear weapons. At any time and for any reason he deems fit, Trump could destroy a nation and, through miscalculation, the world. During the presidential campaign, he uttered several troubling s...more »

Nantero Inc., the nanotechnology company developing next-generation memory using carbon nanotubes, today announced the closing of an over $21 million financing round. The lead investor in the round was Globespan Capital Partners and also included participation from both new and existing strategic and financial investors. Nantero currently has more than a dozen partners and customers in the consumer electronics, enterprise systems, and semiconductor industries actively working on NRAM®. The new funding will enable the company to support these partners in bringing multiple products in...more »

Scientists at The Australian National University (ANU) have designed a nano crystal around 500 times smaller than a human hair that turns darkness into visible light and can be used to create light-weight night-vision glasses. Professor Dragomir Neshev from ANU said the new night-vision glasses could replace the cumbersome and bulky night-vision binoculars currently in use. "The nano crystals are so small they could be fitted as an ultra-thin film to normal eye glasses to enable night vision," said Professor Neshev from the Nonlinear Physics Centre within the ANU Research School of P...more »

West Aleppo celebrated as the Syrian forces took Old Aleppo, the rebel stronghold in the East Aleppo pocket, and more in our global news round-up. The post Rebels Collapse; Kerry and Lavrov Wrangle; Congress Approves MANPADS; Long Battle for Mosul appeared first on Shadowproof.

At the 2016 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in San Francisco, researchers from CEA-Leti presented two papers unveiling promising nanowire architectural blocks for the 5 nanometer node. This Nanowire Surface Potential (NSP) based model, they write, was validated both by numerical simulations and experimental data, which leads us to the second paper, "Vertically Stacked-Nanowires MOSFETs in a Replacement Metal Gate Process with Inner Spacer and SiGe Source/Drain,” demonstrating an actual physical implementation. In this paper, Leti shares its finding on the very fir...more »

The authors of a 2015 study have retracted it after discovering that several Western blots in their paper “do not represent the experiments that were reported.” They couldn’t check some of the original blots, because — according to the retraction notice in the American Journal of Physiology – Renal Physiology — they could not be located. […] The post A paper was published in 2015; the authors already lost the data appeared first on Retraction Watch.

The US Geological Survey has reported a magnitude 6.5 earthquake off the coast of Northern California The quake occurred in the Pacific Ocean about 100 miles off the coast of Eureka at around 6:50 a.m. on Thursday. The epicentre was 165km west of Ferndale, California, at a shallow depth of 10km ((6.2 miles) below sea level. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage and no tsunami warning was issued. Earlier reports from the USGS said the earthquake was a magnitude 6.8 Two quakes of more than 4.0-magnitude have shaken California in the last week. California’s northern ...more »

Two Democratic members of the Electoral College in Colorado have taken legal action to challenge a state law that requires them to elect the winner of the state’s popular vote. The move is part of an effort to use the Electoral College vote to block Donald Trump from winning the presidency. 2 Colorado presidential electors file lawsuit in effort to block Donald Trump – Denver Post https://t.co/jV6ezuPRNl — Breaking Politics (@breakingpol) December 6, 2016 The two presidential electors, Polly Baca and Robert Nemanich filed the federal lawsuit on Tuesday. Both electors are part of...more »

*Daily Mail*:* EXCLUSIVE - Putin's chilling 'missile base' in the heart of Europe: Inside Russia's secretive stronghold of Kaliningrad 'where World War Three could start'* * Russian enclave about the size of Yorkshire borders Poland and Lithuania and is Putin's closest territory to UK * Former German Empire outpost of just 6,000 square miles is now the most militarised zone in Europe * Putin has moved powerful Iskander-M and Bastion missile systems used in Syria to the tiny Baltic enclave * Weapon systems could reach Berlin and are bolstered by huge Baltic fleet undergoing major mo...more »

*Bloomberg:* *OPEC Target Gets Harder as African Members Boost November Output* * November output rose to 34.16 million barrels a day: survey * OPEC deal to curb production is due to start next month OPEC’s mission to implement last week’s historic deal to curb production for the first time in eight years just got a little bit harder after three of its African members increased output in November. Crude production from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries rose to a record 34.16 million barrels a day in November with gains led by Angola, according to a Bloomberg News ...more »

Members of the Taliban gather at the site of the execution of three men accused of murdering a couple during a robbery in Ghazni province, Afghanistan April 18, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo *Reuters: **Ties between Russia and the Taliban worry Afghan, U.S. officials* *Afghan and American officials are increasingly worried that any deepening of ties between Russia and Taliban militants fighting to topple the government in Kabul could complicate an already precarious security situation.* Russian officials have denied they provide aid to the insurgents, who are contesting large...more »

*Zero Hedge:* *Washington Post Appends "Russian Propaganda Fake News" Story, Admits It May Be Fake* In the latest example why the "mainstream media" is facing a historic crisis of confidence among its readership, facing unprecedented blowback following Craig Timberg November 24 Washington Post story "Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say", on Wednesday a lengthy editor's note appeared on top of the original article in which the editor not only distances the WaPo from the "experts" quoted in the original article whose "work" served as the ...more »

The Iraqi forces (ISF) faced a mixture of continued advances and setbacks in its fighting in eastern Mosul. On the positive side, the Golden Division supported by a unit from the 16th Division freed Noor, Muthanna and Siha. That marked the 55th neighborhood reached so far in the city. The 9thDivision and a SWAT unit and the Golden Division also attacked Masarifand Salam, both of which were freed twice before. On the negative side, the 9thDivision made a thrust into southeast Mosul reaching the Salam Hospital in the Wahda neighborhood on December 6. It appeared that the ISF was tryi...more »

Almost all advanced countries, if not all, have national medical care. It is telling that in the debate over Obamacare, few looked at systems in other countries to see how well what worked. The reason seems to have been a mixture of … Continue reading →

Many people think a Justice of the Peace is someone who performs marriages and that performing marriages is the main work of a justice of the peace. This is an understandable belief because in the United States many Justices of the Peace are, in effect, secular clergy whose main job is to conduct marriages; since much of our television and movies come from America the image of a Justice of the Peace being focussed on marriages has become ingrained in Canadian thinking. In fact, while a Justice of the Peace in Canada can perform a marriage that is quite unusual and performing mar...more »

*THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2016Interlude—Rachel's avoidance:* When she was secretary of state, was Hillary Clinton "extremely careless in [her] handling of very sensitive, highly classified information?" Most strikingly, had she participated in email chains which "contained information that was top secret at the time they were sent?" Emails concerning "matters that were classified at the top secret special access program level at the time they were sent and received?" Had Clinton exposed this "top secret" material to possible hacking by "sophisticated adversaries?" When she was secret...more »

*Washington Post*: *Trump hires a third general, raising concerns about heavy military influence* President-elect Donald Trump has selected retired Marine Gen. John F. Kelly as secretary of homeland security, officials familiar with the decision said Wednesday, recruiting a third former member of the military’s brass to serve at the highest levels of his administration. Trump’s choice of Kelly — and his continued deliberations about tapping as many as two more military figures for other posts — has intensified worries among some members of Congress and national security experts th...more »

When an ecologist realized he’d made a fatal error in a 2009 paper, he did the right thing: He immediately contacted the journal (Evolutionary Ecology Research) to ask for a retraction. But he didn’t stop there: He wrote a detailed blog post outlining how he learned — in October 2016, after a colleague couldn’t recreate […] The post “A sinking feeling in my gut:” Diary of a retraction appeared first on Retraction Watch.

The Chinese nationalistic Global Times newspaper has called on Beijing to 'significantly' increase military spending in response to US President-elect Donald Trump *Daily Mail: **China 'needs more nuclear weapons to deal with Trump': Government mouthpiece newspaper says extra defence is required should US treat Beijing 'unacceptably'* * The editorial was printed in the pro-government paper in China the Global Times * It said China should accelerate the deployment of the DF-41 ballistic missile * Piece was sparked by the President-elects comments in the week about China * Chinese o...more »

Should North Korea put a missile such as the three-stage Taepodong 2 (shown above) on the launchpad, the U.S. should launch a pre-emptive strike to take it out, said retired Army Gen. Walter Sharp said Sharp, the former commander of U..S. Forces-Korea and the United Nations Command from 2008 to 2011. (Photo courtesy 38north.org) *Defense Tech:* *Former US General Calls for Pre-emptive Strike on North Korea* The former top American commander in South Korea on Thursday said the Trump administration must be ready to launch a pre-emptive strike on North Korea before it tests a long-ra...more »

There were more than 90 ships anchored at Pearl Harbor. The primary targets of the attack were the 8 battleships sitting at Battleship Row. Here is a picture of Battleship Row during the attack. US Navy *WNU Editor:* For more pictures of the attack .... *Unforgettable photos from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 75 years ago today *(Business Insider)

This World Politics in a Time of Populist Nationalism (WPTPN) guest post is written by Emily Holland and Hadas Aron, PhD Candidates in Political Science at Columbia University. Holland’s research focuses on energy politics, political development, Russian politics and East/Central Europe. Aron studies right wing populism and nationalism with a regional focus on Eastern Europe, the United States, […]

*From Jenna Orkin *Rockefeller family charity to withdraw all investments in fossil fuel companies "*However, the much wealthier Rockefeller Foundation, whose endowment tops $4bn, is understood to be opposed to divestment for now."* Facebook is quietly rolling out its first weapon against fake news The FBI Is Investigating Me Because I Tweeted A Joke About Fake News Guantanamo 9/11 Trial Continues To Be A Slow-Motion Train Wreck Forbidden Photos Reveal What Life In Hawaii Was Like After Pearl Harbor This Is the Purge We All Knew Was Coming: "Shutting Down Extremist Content" Virginia Sc...more »

*Washington Post* front page, are you kidding me? The linked story is not bad, apart from this assertion. But why does the media continue to say this about Trump? The guy said he wanted to "bomb the shit out of" ISIS. He advocated taking Iraq's oil as spoils of war. Why was the press so focused on his (after-the-fact) Iraq War skepticism while ignoring his more bloodthirsty applause lines? The *Post* story notes Trump's choice of retired Marine general John Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security, one of several military men who'll have (or might have) top positions in t...more »

My thinking is that Trump will help bring on the inevitable collapse of the American empire. If people and countries around the world have any good sense they will not follow the US over the cliff. Trump represents the collective sickness of white supremacy, imperial over reach, arrogance, and undeserved sense of exceptionalism. 'Mad Dog' Mattis exudes this American sense of arrogance and entitlement. His words to the Iraqi people repeatedly indicate this notion that 'we came, we conquered'. Imagining him in the role of Secretary of War, armed with the biggest military in human...more »

Yesterday charter school shill Sarah Hernandez jumped into the open seat race for CA-34, one of the bluest districts in the country. The last thing that kind of district needs is some pawn on the charter school billionaires jumping into Congress disguised as a progressive Democrat just because EMILY's List demands a woman fill the seat. Betsy DeVos is a woman too. Stephen Henderson, who writes for the Detroit *Free Press* knows her well and shared his insights about why she could well be Trump's most dangerous cabinet pick so far with *USA Today* readers this week. In Detroit, p...more »

Andrew Coyne writes that the Conservative Party has reached a fork in the road. It can, he writes, either be a party of big ideas or small fears: Will it be the party of big ideas, or small fears? The party of free markets and limited government, or the party of nativism and intolerance? The party of equality, unity and civility, or the party of race-baiting, identity tests and virulent us-and-them polemics? Will it embrace the conservatism of Reagan, Thatcher and Mulroney — or the know-nothing populism of Donald Trump, his imitators and idolators? Clearly, Coyne would prefer tha...more »

When I was young, I dreamed of Italy. Once in a while, my father would pull out the slide projector and show us pictures from his life on a mountain near Colle Isarco, not far from Italy’s border with Austria. He taught me to speak a little in both Italian and German, which I loved. […]

The US led coalition conducted a “precision strike” on a hospital in the Iraqi city of Mosul, after saying its Iraqi allies had came under fire by ISIS fighters from the hospital complex. According to the US Central Command (Centcom), the airstrike targeted a building within the al-Salem hospital complex from where ISIS had launched heavy machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire on Iraqi forces. The coalition did not say if any patients or civilians were present at the scene of the airstrike. RT reports: As Iraqi forces continue their offensive to retake Mosul from Islamic ...more »

HC Unit, I don't even really know what that means, but four of them seem to make a non-excessing (or no-net-charge) Helium atom, the first Nobel gas. Twenty of them seem to make a non-excessing (or no-net-charge) Neon atom, the next Nobel gas. Twelve of them therefore have four valence gaps in their ring or cycle... i.e. Carbon 12. I suspect that the 'atomic structure' of the larger-ring atoms is based on the arrangement of the previous 'nobel' atoms otherwise seen as four kinks in the HC12 chain i.e. Carbon would have a 'structural' or 'virtual' +0-0 Helium at the core of its t...more »

Harry Potter and Christmas are a match made in heaven. The Christmas chapters of the books and homemade sweaters are some of my very favorite moments in the entire series. This year I have been creating my own Harry Potter inspired tree and adding all sorts of DIYs to it. These Snitches are so easy to make and are very affordable! The printable wings make them take less than 5 minutes each! You will need: a gold ornament (I picked mine up at a dollar store) the printable wings at the end of this post hot glue gold spray paint (if you want to paint the back of the printable Print...more »

*Australia: More deliberate ignorance from the Left* *It's been known for years that PISA results are a pretty good proxy for IQ but Leftists hate anything that contradicts their "all men are equal" fantasy. So differencres below that are largely reflective of IQ are explained in all sorts of other bullshit ways -- not enough money being spent being the front runner, as usual. The two main differences highlighted below are both an example of IQ effects: East Asians are brighter than we are and poor people and their children are a lot less bright than top earners and their...more »

*Meteorologist tries to debunk Breitbart* *The point she made is an old one and already well answered. The fall in temperature was NOT found only in the satellite record. There were similar falls in other measures. See here. And the land-based record is important precisely because it shows changes first, before the ocean does. There is more thermal inertia in the oceans but the ocean surface moves in the same direction as the land surface. So the land record is predictive of overall cooling, which was the point. The lady is just a pretty face* AN ATMOSPHERIC scientist has d...more »

A few days ago (actually, on November 13th, so not just a few days ago) I wrote the following comment on the American Thinker site, to an article about "Trump and Hillary on Climate". (Mine was a scientific comment, the site and the article are political. I don't argue politics here, I am a scientist who tries to inform, even in the current general insanity.) I would not be bringing this up here, except that yesterday I visited the Climate Etc. site of Dr. Judith Curry, and read a comment there that led me to ask the question in the title of this post. The comment stated--with utte...more »

[image: DSC03675] *Stopped at this kiln in Miaoli, but the tix were a whopping $250. Lovely place, though.* Well, this week has had some interesting health effects for me. On the one hand, my right elbow tendons are screaming so this will be my last post for a few days. On the other, my stress levels have really socked my appetite. I figure if Trump and Tsai could just talk two more times, I'd meet my weight loss goals for this year. One thing: after the initial hysteria cooler heads began to prevail. Veteran China reporter John Pomfret warned in WaPo, as I did in my opening post o...more »

George Santayana; Friedrich NietzscheConsidering that Friedrich Nietzsche wrote *Thus Spake Zarathustra* in the early 1880s, it is surprising how relevant and invigorating many of the book's ideas remain in 2016. In the book’s Part One (Section: “Of the New Idol”), Nietzsche says: *A state? What is that? Well! open now your ears to me, for now I will speak to you about the death of peoples.* *State is the name of the coldest of all cold monsters. Coldly it lies; and this lie slips from its mouth: "I, the state, am the people."* *It is a lie! It was creators who created peoples, an...more »

ENTR ECOT | Cidade da Cultura from urbanNext on Vimeo. Back when I was studying architecture at Auckland uni, starchitects like Peter Eisenman were all the rage. [image: Galicia3] My own sympathies were with the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, and work like it that embraced human life. Architecture like Eisenman’s I characterised as *neutron-bomb architecture* – architecture from which all human life and humanity were rationalistically erased.[image: Galicia2] For the most part however, neutron-bomb architecture was what my lecturers wanted. *This*, they held, is architect...more »

Tony Blair and George W Bush were mainstays of the political scene. Social media was confined to a tiny niche of hobbyists and nerds. Nigel Farage wasn't a household name. And pop music, generally speaking, was better than it is today (no, that's not old age speaking, *it's a fact*). One Friday evening in 2006, an obscure PhD student who happened to be a member of an obscure Trotskyist outfit in an obscure corner of the country sat himself down and started writing. 10 years on and countless evenings later, the dullard is *still writing*. Yes, December 8th 2016 marks a whole decade ...more »

This is how the left keep their chosen narrative front and centre whilst pushing inconvenient truths to the side. 'At least 2,000 educators around the country reported racist slurs and other derogatory language leveled against white students in the first days after Donald Trump was elected president. But the group that surveyed the teachers didn't publish the results in its report on Trump-related "hate crimes. "The Southern Poverty Law Center partnered with the American Federation of Teachers, which formally endorsed Hillary Clinton, to circulate the questionnaire among its 1.6...more »

*Welcome* A review of Virtual Mirage readership (Google Stats) shows that we get a great deal of traffic from Russia. About 40% of my blog views come from within Russia. I welcome our Russian readers to this blog -- to discussions of US domestic politics, and world politics through an American lens. Please feel free to comment and to disagree. Russians love to talk politics. I've never sat down with a Russian person but what passionate and reasoned political discourse didn't dominate most of what we discussed. It's that intellectual intensity and passionate expression that has led ...more »

*Live,* hot, via Bill Zajc: at 5 pm CERN winter time – 11 am Boston winter time – Sam Ting will report "unexpected results" from the five years of the *Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer*. See an abstract of the CERN colloquium, video page, a separate "camera" video window, previous AMS blog posts. I am a bit excited but be careful: Ting expected to make a big discovery so "unexpected results" may mean that he didn't discover anything interesting. ;-) Ting speaks in Chinglish which I understand well, probably because it's a dialect of Czenglish. At the top of arXiv.org, the main scientif...more »

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Tom Price to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), placing the Georgia Congressman in an extremely powerful position as far as the nation’s health is concerned. Given his dubious track record, this appointment is of serious concern. http://ieet.org/archive/iesbuqdujffw3pons9ry.jpg

I was going to re-paint these three awful 90cm x 60 cm emulsion-on-canvas 4-colour swirl-things, as I have many others to date. I planned how to do it and was just about ready to buy the over-painting paint-pairs. But then I wasn't really sure that (in the end) deciding the fate of artwork should be my role in life. Whose to say there isn't someone out there for whom these pieces (that I don't like, and others I've destroyed/re-painted) mean a great deal. A painter paints, and that's a painter's lot... I should confess my sins, this post is my penance.

I have been holding back on this story until we got a bit of time on it. The election is out of the way and due process is underway. We can be patient. Obviously we have been investigating some of the same strands from different perspectives including by way of direct spiritual inquiry which however impossible became possible. Again i will share the most important conclusion. No conspiracy is stable with one exception. That exception can be used to bring the less talented into positions of trust and does. Its common denominator is an appetite for pedophilia. Since it must ...more »

Hopefully this is the beginning of the end for this type of insecticide. They did themselves no favors when they promoted a huge roll out in Ontario about four yeas ago against the vigorous opposition of the bee industry. Needless to say, it demonstrated perfectly what the problem is. Obfuscation impossible. Worse is that the government is measuring water in waterways and showing how much more serious it all is. All this means that the appropriate agency is ordering its own work and deciding. This likely means we will be free of all this well ahead of anyone else.. *Health C...more »

It is obvious that all natural psychoactive products need to be tested extensively against all known brain disorders. That we are only now identified magic mushrooms as proactive against the majority of severe depression cases is complete nonsense. Why did we not know this? Science has been actively blocked from doing its job. In the meantime we test thousands of chemicals with scant indications of benefits. The last year has seen the beginnings of a flood of medical benefits related to cannabis. I personally no fan of recreational usage of any drug, natural or otherwise. N...more »

Useful to read but also useful to draw the line at trying to make something out of it.. What the media continues to ignore is how they chose to not report on the actual content of his many speeches. These are typically reasoned positions and would hold up easily in a public forum. When you deliberately fail to cover the candidates actual message he is left with no option but to use other tactics. And twitter was never meant for carefully crafted policy statements. On top of that he instinctively knows to lead with a hard position even when it is a Bluff. Again the press fell for ...more »

*December 8, 2016 *(Tony Cartalucci - NEO) - Thailand's government has opened an investigation into BBC's "BBC Thai" and its recent activities. It is accused of maliciously slandering Thailand's newly appointed head of state, King Maha Vajiralongkorn in a recent "profile" published in both English and Thai on its website and across social media. The BBC, known for misleading the public globally, has helped justify devastating wars, political conflict, and the socioeconomic division and destruction of entire nations. While the Western media attempts to portray the BBC's row in Thail...more »

*“Recount Game Over:* *Federal Judge **ENDS** Michigan Recount”* by Newsroom “A federal Judge has HALTED the Election Recount taking place in Michigan on behalf of failed Green Party Candidate Jill Stein. The Michigan Election Commission confirmed they received the federal court ruling just moments ago at about 7:30 PM eastern US time. This comes on the heels of another court ruling, by the Michigan State Court of Appeals, which also ordered a HALT to the recount, claiming Stein's effort was unlawful. This makes other ongoing recount efforts pretty-much futile since none of the ongo...more »

An aerial view of the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument reveals an outline of the sunken U.S.S. Arizona. The surprise attack on December 7, 1941, killed 1,177 of the ship's officers and men. PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID DOUBILET, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC *Jeremy Berlin, National Geographic: **75 Years On, Pearl Harbor Survivors Forgive—But Can't Forget* On December 7, 1941, Japan’s deadly attack catalyzed a nation, shattering America’s sense of invincibility and pulling the country into war. Today the site is a symbol of service, science, and healing. It’s still there. Seventy...more »

*Amy Lansky* - The epitome of a free thinker, his ideas can trigger the paradigm shift we need. The post Can Buckminster Fuller’s Vision of the Future Help Save Humanity? appeared first on Waking Times.

Lady Gaga has told senior staff and associates that Prince Charles is not human but is a “hybrid that shapeshifts between human and reptilian form” and according to sources close to the pop star she has witnessed him shapeshift “before her very eyes”, and in her opinion it was a warning to her to “get back on script” and “start playing by their rules.” Lady Gaga met Prince Charles at the Royal Variety Performance in London on Dec. 7 and was criticized in some quarters of the tabloid press for failing to observe royal etiquette in the presence of the heir to the throne. It has now b...more »

More than two-thirds of common brands of extra-virgin olive oil found in American grocery stores aren’t what they claim to be, according to a University of California at Davis study. Instead, the oils were made from lower quality olives unfit to be labeled “extra virgin.” Worse, some were outright counterfeits, made from soy, hazelnut, and even cheap fish oils mixed with low grade olive-pomace oil and additives to create the look and smell of extra virgin olive oil. Far more valuable than other vegetable oils, olive oil is also more costly and time consuming to produce. People hav...more »

Following the lead of our friends across the pond, America delivered their own version of Brexit by electing Donald Trump president. In the year of miracles, add Trexit to Brexit and the Cubs winning their first World Series in 108 years to the list of odds defying events. History tells us that eventually the pendulum will change direction and swing the other way and the number of casualties is growing by the day. The list is long and distinguished and perhaps the biggest losers are the US crime families named Clinton and Bush. Don’t be fooled by the asskissing of all the losers wh...more »

Putin at a Russian military training exercise in the Orenburg region - Kremlin *Vladimir Putin, World Crunch/La Stampa*: *Enough With The West’s Imaginary Threats* In Italian daily La Stampa, the Russian president writes that it's time for the U.S. and Europe to trust Moscow as a partner in confronting the world's problems. MOSCOW — The redistribution of economic power and political influence in the world is increasing the contradictions between Russia and the West. This mutual mistrust is limiting our opportunities to find effective responses to the common challenges and concre...more »

*Isaac Davis* - Bureaucracy has inserted itself into pretty much every nook and cranny of our lives. The post Big Government – The Reason You Need a License to Braid Hair appeared first on Waking Times.

*Rarely has a deal done by a President-elect been heard so loudly around the world. And what a deal: 1,100 Americans keep their jobs, Carrier gets lower taxes, and Donald Trump gets many thousand approving headlines. That, as Bastiat would say, “is what is seen.” What is not seen, explains Tom Mullen in this guest post, is the vast amounts of wealth destroyed by this protectionist deal.* Donald Trump has not taken office and already he is delivering on his promise to keep manufacturing jobs in the United States. Last week, he visited Indiana to celebrate his part in persuading...more »

The U.S. Presidential election was rigged even before the first ballot was cast. The Rothschilds were up to their old tricks – funding both sides of the war in order to fuel chaos, derive maximum profit, and ensure they retain ultimate influence when the new order emerges. Everybody knows Hillary Clinton was the establishment’s candidate of choice, backed by the Rothschilds and the New World Order. But what is less well known is that Donald Trump is also a Rothschild creation and actor, playing a part in the great sham that is the Illuminati’s fake election, designed to keep contro...more »

Today is a day that indeed will live in infamy.... Seventy-five years ago today, the Japanese strike force known as Kido Butai containing 6 fleet aircraft carriers and support vessels, launched two aerial strikes against the US Naval Pacific Fleet while it sat at anchor in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii.... That attack cost the lives of some 2300+ US servicemen and women, along with sinking 18 surface ships of the American Pacific fleet, and destroying upwards of 150+ aircraft on the ground... And yes, with that strike the empire of Japan was officially at war with the United States of ...more »

"What's happening at the center of elliptical galaxy NGC 4696? There, long tendrils of gas and dust have been imaged in great detail as shown by this recently released image from the Hubble Space Telescope. These filaments appear to connect to the central region of the galaxy, a region thought occupied by a supermassive black hole. *Click image for larger size.* Speculation holds that this black hole pumps out energy that heats surrounding gas, pushes out cooler filaments of gas and dust, and shuts down star formation. Balanced by magnetic fields, these filaments then appear to spir...more »

*Nancy Pelosi may be the best friend that conservatives have. * The seventy-six year old multi-millionaire who represents California's 12th District (San Francisco) has presided over the demise of the Democrat Party from her seat in The People's House. Some Republicans had harsh words for her election to be House Minority Leader yet again. I take a very different approach. It's Ms. Pelosi who says that the Democrat Party has it right - and that the public simply doesn't understand how well they have it. She's also the same politician who coined the word, *astroturf*, for the T...more »

*Reuters*: *How Iran closed the Mosul 'horseshoe' and changed Iraq war* In the early days of the assault on Islamic State in Mosul, Iran successfully pressed Iraq to change its battle plan and seal off the city, an intervention which has since shaped the tortuous course of the conflict, sources briefed on the plan say. The original campaign strategy called for Iraqi forces to close in around Mosul in a horseshoe formation, blocking three fronts but leaving open the fourth - to the west of the city leading to Islamic State territory in neighboring Syria. That model, used to recapt...more »

Dec. 5, 2016 in a blizzard, we stand......in the next 7 generation to come, someone will dream this dream and see and hear this moment, it's our prayer. -- Bucky Harjo We stood in a blizzard, not giving up, to show the world we will go to any length to show the truth, and our strength in prayer, to protect MNI WICONI, Water is Life! -- Bucky Harjo. Bucky Harjo. Cannonball River

China have issued an ominous warning to incoming President Donald Trump, saying that he better “get in line” soon or “pay dearly”. Chinese state media reported on Tuesday that Trump’s phone-call with Taiwan’s president and subsequent Twitter rant attacking Beijing, represents a potential severing of diplomatic relations between the US and China. Yahoo News reports: “Provoking friction and messing up China-US relations won’t help ‘make America great again'”, said a front-page opinion piece in the overseas edition of Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily. The nationalist Global ...more »

In the final weeks of his Presidency, Barack Obama has finally admitted to Donald Trump that the U.S. helped to create ISIS. The outgoing President told stunned military personnel on Tuesday that U.S. foreign policy helped to give rise to ISIS/Daesh and that Trump will have a tough job ahead of him of washing the blood from America’s hands. Sputniknews.com reports: “In shaping our response [to Daesh], we refused to repeat some of the mistakes of the 2003 invasion [of Iraq] that have helped to give rise to the organization that became ISIL in the first place,” Obama said during a ...more »

A popular children’s doll has been found to collect and transmit personal information from unsuspecting children to a U.S. defense contractor. According to a complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday, the My Friend Cayla doll and I-Que Intelligent Robot toy, made by Genesis Toys Inc., secretly record everything children say and send the information to a defense contractor named Nuance Communications. Rawstory.com reports: The problem with these toys, the complaint alleges, is that their terms of service allow them to record everything they hear and then send th...more »

A first for the irving press. Like many newspapers, section A of the irving press is made up of local news - most of it of no importance whatever - such as minor stories from the court house. Section B moves to national and world news. But the irving press is not just another newspaper. No. Section A is the usual simple-minded trash. But Section B has one, small story of international news. (back page). That's it. The rest is more local news. And more than half of it is simply gossip from the court house. Business break-in lands man in jail. A former employee will be sentenced f...more »

*Loser and extremist loon, Scott Garrett (R-NJ)* Aside from being the home of the Bada Bing strip club from *The Sopranos*, NJ-05 sits on the entire northern border of New Jersey with New York, from the Hudson River in the east to just outside of Port Jervis in the west, and the entire northwestern border with Pennsylvania from Milford through the Delaware Water Gap and beyond my old home in Stroudsburg. It's an affluent R+4 district in blue New Jersey. Over 70% of the population is in northern Bergen County's suburbs and towns like Paramus, Hackensack, Teaneck, Mahwah and Lodi (the...more »

*"A Dream Within A Dream"* "Take this kiss upon the brow! And, in parting from you now, Thus much let me avow- You are not wrong, who deem That my days have been a dream; Yet if hope has flown away In a night, or in a day, In a vision, or in none, Is it therefore the less gone? All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream. I stand amid the roar Of a surf-tormented shore, And I hold within my hand Grains of the golden sand- How few! yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep, While I weep- while I weep! O God! can I not grasp Them with a tighter clasp? O God! can I n...more »

. Josue Rivas Photo By Oceti Sakowin Camp Censored News Standing Rock Reservation, Oceti Sakowin Camp. North Dakota—Our first concern issafety. We ask all who can and want to leave, to return home. We are especially concerned for elders, families with children, those with health concerns, and/or pets that aren't acclimated. For those who can stay—and are prepared for arctic

*Daily Mail/AFP: **Syrian rebels crushed as Assad's troops take control of Aleppo's Old City, forcing 80,000 people to flee their homes and civil war heads towards an apocalyptic finale* * Regime troops have captured three-quarters of rebel territory in the Syrian city * The blistering assault has prompted a mass exodus of east Aleppo residents * Rebel factions proposed a five-day ceasefire for medical and civilian evacuation Syrian rebels have suffered a crushing defeat after government troops took control of Aleppo's Old City forcing 80,000 people to flee their homes. President ...more »

*"Five Things You Notice When You Quit the News" * by David Cain "I grew up believing that following the news makes you a better citizen. Eight years after having quit, that idea now seems ridiculous—that consuming a particularly unimaginative information product on a daily basis somehow makes you thoughtful and informed in a way that benefits society. But I still encounter people who balk at the possibility of a smart, engaged adult quitting the daily news. To be clear, I’m mostly talking about following TV and internet newscasts here. This post isn’t an indictment of journalism a...more »

Pope Francis has launched a vicious, scathing attack on American alternative media and investigative reporters, labelling them “sh*t eaters” and warning them not to cover scandals “even if they are true” and instead concentrate on pumping out nice stories for the masses. “I think the media have to be very clear, very transparent, and not fall into – no offence intended – the sickness of coprophilia, that is, always wanting to cover scandals, covering nasty things, even if they are true,” the Pope said in an interview with the Belgian Catholic weekly Tertio. “And since people have ...more »

WikiLeaks has released a cable that reveals the US Government held a series of top-secret meetings with David Rockefeller over where to hide the elite family of the Shah after the Iranian revolution in 1979. The release, which details top-secret dealings between then Secretery of State Henry Kissinger, and tycoon David Rockefeller, adds rocket fuel to one of the longest running conspiracy theories – that the US Government is actually run from behind the scenes by a shadow government who take orders from a secretive global elite known as the Illuminati. The Rockefellers are an Amer...more »

On this episode, Kumars and Roqayah speak with returning guest Mariame Kaba, though most of you know her as @prisonculture on Twitter. The post Delete Your Account – Episode 27: Get Your People appeared first on Shadowproof.

*Nick Miriello, VICE News*: *Why Aleppo matters* Assad is going to take back the crucially important city. So what happens next? The past two weeks have seen large parts of Aleppo, once Syria’s largest city and a bustling hub of finance and industry, reduced to rubble as an intensified offensive by President Bashar al Assad’s allied forces picks up pace. The former Syrian metropolis has become a symbol of Assad’s determined and bloody grasp for power, as well as the West’s inability or unwillingness to decisively intervene in the yearslong civil war that has claimed hundreds of t...more »

Nobody could have predicted that an incoming president who's said climate change is a hoax would do something like this: President-elect Donald J. Trump has selected Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general and a close ally of the fossil fuel industry, to run the Environmental Protection Agency, signaling Mr. Trump’s determination to dismantle President Obama’s efforts to counter climate change -- and much of the E.P.A. itself. Mr. Pruitt, a Republican, has been a key architect of the legal battle against Mr. Obama’s climate change policies.... “Scientists continue to disagree a...more »

If ever there were a man who demonstrated the principle of Benefits from Genius it is Aristotle – Aristotle, the founder of three sciences and the Prime Mover in several others – Aristotle, the man from whom the ideas we now call “common sense” first sprung, back when sense was very far from common – Aristotle, from whose genius we still benefit more than two millennia later, but today would be treated by many as a … well, as Stuart Hayashi points out he would undoubtedly have bestowed upon him the labels gifted him by today’s identity politics: *Aristotle was an immigrant (th...more »

Men ride a tricycle as they flee deeper into the remaining rebel-held areas of Aleppo, Syria December 7, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail *Reuters*: *Rebels seek ceasefire with Syrian army closer to retaking Aleppo* Syrian rebels in besieged eastern Aleppo called on Wednesday for an immediate five-day ceasefire and the evacuation of civilians and wounded, but gave no indication they were ready to withdraw as demanded by Damascus and Moscow. The Syrian army and allied forces have made rapid gains against insurgents in the past two weeks and look closer than ever to restoring full co...more »

...but after that? In his wonderful dramatic monologue. "The Death of the Hired Man," Robert Frost famously defined home as, "...the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in." It's a wonderful sentiment, provided you have that option. Of course, Frost never mentioned rent, sociopathic landlords who are impatient about that rent, not to mention debt collection agencies, utility companies, insurance brokerages, internet and phone companies or the constant burden of topping up cell phone minutes. He also never mentioned in his dramatic monologue a...more »

Oh, you got me there, Jailbird Joe. Boy, one really has to get up before the chickens to get one past you, eh? Because your stubborn pride would *never* allow you to ask your poor, deluded readership for a penny… …except for here and hereand here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and hereand here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here. And I’m only go...more »

Former President George. W Bush may face trial at a California court for committing war crimes in Iraq, in an unprecedented announcement made by the U.S. Court of Appeal. The United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit today confirmed that Judges Susan Graber and Andrew Hurwitz will hear arguments on December 12, 2016, in the case of Saleh v. Bush. Witnessiraq.com reports: Saleh v. Bush involves claims by an Iraqi woman, Sundus Shaker Saleh, that former President George W. Bush and other high ranking Bush-era officials broke the law when they planned and waged the Iraq Wa...more »

"Human history can be viewed as a slowly dawning awareness that we are members of a larger group. Initially our loyalties were to ourselves and our immediate family, next, to bands of wandering hunter-gatherers, then to tribes, small settlements, city-states, nations. We have broadened the circle of those we love. We have now organized what are modestly described as super-powers, which include groups of people from divergent ethnic and cultural backgrounds working in some sense together- surely a humanizing and character building experience. If we are to survive, our loyalties must ...more »

Peter Kearl is co-founder and CTO of Qmast which is a Colorado-based company pioneering the use of the microwave technology to recover oil. Oil giants BP and ConocoPhillips are pouring resources into developing similar extraction techniques, which can be far less water- and energy-intensive than fracking. There is more than 4.285 trillion barrels of oil barrels of oil in the Green River Formation (2011 U.S. Geological Survey of resource in-place). Using oil shale cutoffs of potentially viable (15 gallons per ton) and high grade (25 gallons per ton), it is estimated that between 353 ...more »

*Puppet Pat: Not smiling so much anymore?* *by Ken* So North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, known to DWT readers as "Puppet Pat," has thrown in the towel on his failed reelection, after dragging the proceedings out with a series of crackpot accusations about election fraud -- only to see his margin of defeat hold fast as limited recounts began. And it was by no means a given that Puppet Pat and the NC GOP would accept the election result. In the above-referenced NYT report on the governor's belated concession to NC Attorney General Roy Cooper, Richard Fausset notes: The sealing of Mr...more »

As promised, let's talk about the so-called progressive alliance, that Labour, the LibDems, Greens, SNP, and Plaid should come to a non-aggression arrangement to maximise the anti-Conservative vote in upcoming by-elections and the next general election (now most unlikely to be next year). This means unpicking 'tribalism'. Let's start off with a question. Though it has happened at local level on a number of occasions, most Labour people from all wings of the party would react with horror about cutting a deal with the Tories. Why? It isn't a matter of them being "not us". Politics i...more »

So let’s talk about Sam Morgan’s dad, Gareth. Because for an apparently smart man, he can be awfully fricking dumb. There he was yesterday announcing the very first policy of his spanking new party, the Opportunists’ Party, capitalising on the opportunity of the Prime Minister’s resignation by flying up from Wellington to be photographed outside the Prime Minister’s Parnell home so he can announce a new tax. In a country that values home ownership, he announced he wants to tax your home. Nice policy announcement by which to launch a new party. What’s the connection with Parnel...more »

A day ago or so, Ivanka Trump as well as Donald Trump met Al Gore. Al Gore claimed that they had an extremely interesting conversation. Well, I was worried about it. Why would Donald Trump accept such a meeting? What could come out of it? Al Gore has never accepted any request for a debate – and he has received very, very many. Now, when his era in the U.S. environmental policymaking seems to be really ending, he seems more willing to meet the people from the other side. Why? Doesn't he have some secret weapons to blackmail the U.S. president elect? Moreover, Ivanka is an amazing y...more »

A US F/A-18 Hornet has crashed earlier today in Japan. Rescue efforts to recover the pilot would be underway. This would be the 9th major incident involving a “Legacy Hornet” (including the Canadian CF-18 lost on Nov. 28, 2016) in the last 6 months. The rate of crashes involving legacy Hornets is alarming. Two U.S. Marine Corps F-18 Hornets from MCAS Miramar crashed on Nov. 9 near San Diego. Another one on Oct. 25. A Swiss Air Force Hornet was lost on Aug. 29, whereas a Navy F/A-18C crashed on Aug. 2. On Jul. 27 USMC F/A-18 crashed so as the Blue Angels Hornet that crashed on Jun. 2...more »

Hollywood actor Denzel Washington has slammed the mainstream media for peddling what he describes as a “bullsh*t” agenda to discredit alternative news outlets. Speaking at the press agency ITK at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Denzel Washington said that the mainstream media is being hypocritical in highlighting so-called “fake news” websites when they themselves are the main purveyors of it. Zerohedge.com reports: Despite finding himself previously in the center of a “fake news” story, which falsely claimed the actor was switching his support of Hil...more »

The Syrian President said that a victory in the battle for the city of Aleppo will be “a huge step” toward bringing the war in Syria to an end. President Bashar al-Assad also said the full liberation of Aleppo would deal a huge blow to regional and international supporters of the terrorist groups. “It’s true that Aleppo will be a win for us, but let’s be realistic, it won’t mean the end of the war in Syria,…but it will be a huge step towards this end.” Assad said. Assad’s troops appear closer than ever to retaking all of Aleppo…overnight rebels retreated from the last parts of Ale...more »

Image from *Mother Jones* *Times of Israel:* *UK, US intel reportedly spied on Israeli diplomats, army* Leaked papers indicate British agency snooped on Foreign Ministry’s second-highest official British and American intelligence spied on Israel’s diplomats and defense firms in addition to its military, the French daily Le Monde reported Wednesday based on leaked documents. The report was based on material from Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who worked for US intelligence before publishing in 2013 classified material and fleeing to Russia. According to the newspaper, Britain’...more »

An image of Inmarsat’s “unparalleled broadband experience in the sky.” Source: Inmarsat.com *The Intercept*: *American and British Spy Agencies Targeted In-Flight Mobile Phone Use* IN THE TROVE of documents provided by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden is a treasure. It begins with a riddle: “What do the President of Pakistan, a cigar smuggler, an arms dealer, a counterterrorism target, and a combatting proliferation target have in common? They all used their everyday GSM phone during a flight.” This riddle appeared in 2010 in SIDtoday, the internal newslet...more »

*"Big Steps On Life's Path: Being Aware is the First Step"* by Madisyn Taylor, The DailyOM There is freedom that comes with awareness, because with it comes the opportunity to make a choice. Life is a journey comprised of many steps on our personal path that takes us down a winding road of constant evolution. And each day, we are provided with a myriad of opportunities that can allow us to transform into our next best selves. One moment we are presented with an opportunity to react differently when yet another someone in our life rubs us the wrong way; on another day we may find our...more »

Infamy lives on, indeed... "Pearl Harbor: Hawaii Was Surprised; FDR Was Not" - http://www.thenewamerican.com/ "Pearl Harbor: Did FDR and the Navy know what was coming?" - https://www.salon.com/ "October 7, 1940: The Day That Should Have Lived in Infamy" - https://truth11.com/ I know, I know, "Oh, they'd never do that!" Well, they *did*... “The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.” - George Orwell

About ten years ago at DARPA began the Z-man project to enable soldiers to climb the walls of buildings Nextbigfuture had been tracking the project all of that time. In 2006, nextbigfuture had incorporated advanced wall climbing in a set of predictions of the future based on the anticipated success of the Z-man and several other approaches to climbing walls. The project has taken longer than expected. Whatever the scientists learned about gecko wall-climbing, whatever new approaches they took, the results didn't seem applicable to human use. "This program would have been over in t...more »

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I've been 'around' for a few years now, pursuing the shifting goal of a sharable home-made surfers resource site focused on ease of use and variety of mostly adult ( whoa : I didn't say prurient ) content.